Hotels and State properties may pay more for TV licences

Large hotels and State properties may have to pay more for their TV licences under proposals to be considered by a working group established by Minister for Communications Denis Naughten.

The Minister told the Cabinet on Tuesday that a group of senior officials was being formed to consider the future funding of public service broadcasting. This move comes following a 14 per cent evasion rate with an annual loss of €40 million to RTÉ, TG4 and the broadcasting fund which supports the independent audio-visual sector.

The Oireachtas communications committee recommended in November last year that responsibility for collecting the TV licence fee be handed over to the Revenue Commissioners.

Broadcasting charge

The new working group, which is to report early in the new year, will look at all options for collection of the fee. This will include collection by the Revenue, tendering for licence-fee collection, replacing the fee with a broadcasting charge based on smart phone, tablet and computer usage, and “a more equitable contribution from the business sector, such as through the introduction of different rates or categories of licence”.

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A hotel pays the standard €160 licence levy whether it has one room or 1,000 rooms. And a proposal under review is establishing categorisation similar to the UK where hotels with “big room capacity” pay a further percentage based on the number of rooms in the hotel.

The proposals will not include small hotels, bed & breakfasts or hostels, but will affect larger hotels and State buildings.

Larger hotels

Consideration will be given to options including one licence fee for up to 50 rooms, with a percentage increase for between 50 and 150 rooms and more again for larger hotels.

State-owned properties will also be considered in this charging model. This includes the Department of Communications which has three buildings and pays only three licence fees even though it has several hundred television sets.

There are 46 TV inspectors for the entire State, which the Minister described as unsustainable. But he stressed that in excess of 46 per cent of licences sold in 2017 were “at counters in post offices and the facility for payments at counters will remain”.